Police Plea After Spate Of Robberies

Police have put out a plea for witnesses after a spate of five robberies in Merton on just one day.

Three of the robberies, which all took place on Tuesday (May 1), were in the Wimbledon area.

The most serious involved the knifepoint robbery of a taxi driver in the Cannon Hill area. Police said two white males, aged around 20, stole the taxi driver's black Ford Galaxy car.

In a separate incident, at 8.30pm on Tuesday in North Road, near Haydons Road, a man was robbed of his rucksack by two men who jumped from an alleyway and attacked him. They were said to be black and aged around 18.

And at 8am in Lauriston Road, Wimbledon, a schoolboy was robbed of his iphone while he was on a bus. The robber was described as Asian and aged about 23.

There were two other street robberies in the Mitcham area on the same day, both involving the thefts of iphones.

A police spokesman said: "Do you know who these people are? Can you help us? Robbers are cowards who prey on those they think can't or won't fight back.

"Call our Robbery team on 0208 649 3118 / 3159 or if you want to remain anonymous tell us what you know not who you are on 0800 555 1111."

There were also two burglaries in Wimbledon on the same day. One took place in Church Road, where property was taken from inside a house. The other was in Southey Road, where two white teenagers, aged about 16, were seen hanging around house just beforehand. A bedroom window was forced and property stolen.